Access your Pro+ Content below.

Fibre Channel over Ethernet: Storage 101

FCoE The protocol lets Fibre Channel (FC) and Ethernet/IP traffic share the same cables. Currently, there's no way to transport both kinds of traffic on one network without dropped packets. Other options include Fibre Channel over IP (FCIP), which uses switch-to-switch connections to transport data, and the Internet Fibre Channel Protocol (iFCP), which carries FC data over IP networks using SCSI protocols. But neither ensures performance. FCoE, developed by Nuova Systems (owned by Cisco), will probably be ratified by the end of 2008, with early adoption possible this year or in early 2009. Cisco competitor Brocade says 2011 is a more realistic goal for mainstream use. Vendors have released FCoE-compatible switches and begun introducing converged network adapters (CNAs) that could replace a host bus adapter and an Ethernet NIC with a single card. FCoE adoption is tied to 10Gb Ethernet, which will provide enough bandwidth to run FC and IP traffic at speeds comparable to current FC products. Data center Ethernet (DCE), or converged...

Features
in this issue

Data backups are still job No. 1--and problem No. 1--for most storage managers. In this article, backup guru W. Curtis Preston describes the five most prevalent backup system problems and explains what you can do to prevent or remedy them.

Whether it's the result of a merger or just good housekeeping, at some point in time storage managers will have a storage consolidation project. The Missouri state government embarked on a major storage consolidation project that included numerous political and technical hurdles.

Data moves. Or, it has to be moved when you're refreshing array technology, merging storage resources with an acquired company or shifting data around to more economical tiers. Data migration is a common task, but it's often a difficult one. We describe some technologies and tools to ease the pain of data migrations.

Our sixth annual Storage Salary Survey shows storage salaries are rising overall, and climbing even higher as the number of terabytes managed increases. Experienced storage pros remain in demand but many respondents say that heavier workloads, smaller staffs, longer hours and tighter budgets are all contributing to stress and making the job of managing storage even tougher.

Power and cooling isn't just a problem for the data center. According to Gartner Inc., storage managers place power consumption in a three-way tie for last place in terms of their concerns, a clear example of organizational misalignment.